Déjà Vu
by Alexandria de Loraine
Summary: A non-typical time travel story; Hermione awakens in Hogwarts circa 1977 with a serious case of amnesia after being brutally tortured and nearly killed. Sirius Black x Hermione Granger - M for future content, reasonably canon-compliant.
1. Fallen One

Hey there everyone. I wanted to take a few moments before beginning this story to give you all a little information and background behind the inspiration for this story. Most of you are probably more familiar with my longer fic _Spirit Bound, _which is a romantic Remus x Hermione fic currently being wrapped up and finished. In addition to _Spirit Bound, _I've also written a couple of little romantic one-shots that are Remus x Hermione.

As you can see from my previous works, I'm very fond of that ship. ^.^ Which begs the question, why am I now writing a fic for Sirius x Hermione? I've honestly never really been much of a fan of this ship. I have read some very well written Severus Snape x Hermione fics, but so far I haven't been interested in writing for that pairing. But Sirius? Meh. I just never really saw it. So imagine my surprise when I am reading a Remus x Hermione fic, and the portrayal of Sirius is so endearing to me that suddenly I really wish the author had transformed it into a Sirius x Hermione story. (It was a good Remus x Hermione story, though.)

Well, I was inspired. On another note, I'd been contemplating the notion of doing a time-travel piece for quite some time, but I just wasn't really seeing Hermione with the Marauders or a young Remus Lupin. Now, with this sudden realization about Sirius, I can see that he fits perfectly in my ideas for a time-travel piece, and so this fic has been born.

So this is my take on a time-travel piece. It will evolve into a Sirius x. Hermione romance over the course of its work, and it is reasonably canon compliant but not strictly so. I hope you'll all enjoy it, and I would love to hear from you about what you think as it goes. ^.^

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I. Fallen One

It was dark when she awoke, all cold and numb. She could not feel her feet or her hands, and it felt as though her mind was floating in a deep void. Then pain seized her, so fiery and hot, as though every nerve were being assaulted. A piercing scream tore from her throat before she could control herself, cutting through the crisp night air. Then silence reigned again, as she regained control of herself and the pain began to pass.

Whatever had struck her had left a deep wound on the right side of her skull; Hermione's head pounded and throbbed with pain from it, her hair matted to the side of her head with blood. Struggling to her hands and knees on the frosty grass, she fought against the pain in her limbs and tried to look up. Her vision spun, and she could feel a sticky dry fluid coating her hands and arms; her robes were filthy, torn and blood soaked, splattered with mud. Nausea gripped her and her stomach heaved until she puked bile on the grass where she had lain.

'_The castle,' _she thought desperately, and the thought cut through the haze surrounding her mind, compelling her to stumble to her feet and drag herself in the direction of the Hogwarts castle.

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Lily Evans sighed heavily as she pursued James Potter and Sirius Black through the Gryffindor portrait hole. After staying up half the night to finish the essays they had due in the morning - essays that Lily, Remus and even Peter had already finished - the boys had decided an illicit trip down to the kitchens for a snack was in order. As Head Girl, Lily thought she really should have been deducting points from them for breaking curfew, but James had charmed her into becoming an accomplice instead. There was just something about his messy black hair and easy smile that made it impossible for her to deny him.

"I told you she'd come," James boasted to Sirius, comfortably draping his arm over Lily's shoulders as the three of them strolled down the hallway.

It was dark and quiet in the castle, the halls only illuminated by the faint light of the moon and stars outside, and Sirius laughed softly at his friend's comment, "I had no idea you'd been so successful at corrupting her over the summer holidays."

Lily blushed in the dark, elbowing James lightly in the side and glaring at the back of Sirius' shadowed head as he walked several feet in front of them, "I don't know what James has been telling you about our summer holidays, but I most certainly was not corrupted."

"Sure you weren't," Sirius agreed amicably, "and all your knickers suddenly getting changed out to little lacy, frilly things is a pure coincidence."

"Sirius Black," Lily whispered furiously, and she was grateful for the darkness that hid her deep red blush. James choked on his own laughter, rubbing Lily's shoulder soothingly.

"See you in the kitchens," Sirius said before Lily could say anything else, and he dashed off ahead of them, disappearing into the dark hallway and down the stairs with all the silence of a shadow. James chuckled as his friend dashed off, continuing at an easy pace with Lily.

"You think that's funny?" she whispered, and James nodded, "it's mortifying, James, not funny."

"Shh," James reminded her, "it's past three in the morning, don't wake the portraits up," he pulled her closer, giving her a kiss on the cheek, "besides, it's not so bad. It's just Sirius."

"I don't care if he were Merlin," Lily huffed, "he's got no right to go through my things."

James didn't have a chance to respond, they heard Sirius suddenly calling to them, "James, Lily come quick!"

Startled by the sudden tone of urgency in Sirius' voice, the pair of them hastened their step and rushed through the hall and down the stairs. They found Sirius in the hallway on the ground floor, kneeling in the dark near the large double doors of the castle.

"What is it, Padfoot?" James asked. He had let go of Lily and he hurried to where Sirius was kneeling. There was someone sprawled across the floor of the hall, an unmoving form.

"Lumos," Sirius whispered, and the tip of his wand lit up, casting a pale light over the body.

"It's a girl," James sounded every bit as surprised as he was, and he heard Lily gasp softly in shock as Sirius reached out and turned the unconscious girl onto her back.

"Is she alive?" Lily asked, looking at the state of the girl's robes and the blood all over her arms and face. The girl was filthy and looked like she'd just come from a battlefield.

Sirius had already moved closer to check her pulse, and Lily released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding when he nodded, "yeah, she's alive."

"We should take her to the infirmary," James suggested, and he used his own wand to light up the rest of the hall, looking around to see if there was anything to indicate where the girl had come from or how she had sustained such injuries. The hall was quiet and undisturbed, though.

Sirius didn't wait as James was glancing around; he picked the girl up gently in his arms. As he lifted her there was the sound of wood hitting stone, and he glanced down to see a smooth, dark wand rolling across the floor.

"Lily," Sirius indicated the wand with his head, "grab her wand, will you?"

James and Lily had to jog to keep up with Sirius as he took off towards the infirmary; he was the tallest of the three of them and despite the body of the girl in his arms his stride was long and fast. When he had felt for her pulse, Sirius had found it weak, and her skin was cold to the touch. Beneath the layers of blood and filth that covered her, he could see the skin of her lips approaching a blue color, her face pale as chalk.

"Madam Pomfrey!" Sirius bellowed the moment he was through the infirmary doors, and Lily winced at the volume of his voice. Luckily, there was no one else in the infirmary or Sirius would have woken the whole ward up.

The school's resident nurse appeared within seconds, standing in the doorway of her office in a dressing gown and slippers.

"Sirius Black?" she asked, the tone of her voice stern, "what is the meaning of this young man?"

Sirius was already depositing the unconscious girl in one of the beds, though, so James stepped forward to answer, "It's an emergency Madam Pomfrey; we found a girl in the hall downstairs, she's very badly injured."

That was all he needed to say, and the nurse immediately jumped into action. With her wand in hand, she lit several torches and quickly went to the bed where the girl laid. Lily and James could hear Madam Pomfrey gasp as she looked at the girl, taking in her filthy, torn clothes and the wounds on her arms and head.

"Miss Evans," Madam Pomfrey addressed Lily even as she began to preform several diagnostic spells, "go to the Headmaster's office and alert Dumbledore right away."

As Head Girl, Lily knew the password to the Headmaster's office and she nudged James, asking silently for him to come with her. Fond as she was of Hogwarts, Lily found the empty, dark hallways somewhat spooky at night.

"We'll be back," James said, addressing Sirius who was standing to the side of the bed, watching with interest as Madam Pomfrey began working on the girl. Sirius just nodded absently, hardly paying much attention to his friend, and James left quickly with Lily.

Left alone in the infirmary with Madam Pomfrey, Sirius stood out of her way, looking at the girl he'd carried up. Seeing her in the light of the infirmary only made her look worse than she had in the hall, and he felt a sick queasiness in his stomach as he got a good look at the wound on her head and her hair matted with blood and dirt. The robes she wore were literally in tatters, shredded in places and filthy, but he recognized a Gryffindor emblem sewn to them and was puzzled by its presence. The girl was at least sixteen or seventeen, and Sirius knew everyone in Gryffindor, but he'd never laid eyes on her before.

"Make yourself useful, young man," Madam Pomfrey ordered when she noticed Sirius standing idly by and watching, "get me a blood replenishing draught from the cupboard in my office."

Sirius nodded, tearing his eyes away from the injured girl and going to the nurse's office. When he brought the potion to Pomfrey, the witch had performed several spells to clean the filth and blood from the girl, and Sirius could see several cuts and dark bruises on her neck and arms. On the inside of her left forearm, stretching from her elbow nearly all the way to her wrist, was an angry red scar spelling out the word 'Mudblood', and Sirius was shocked by the sight of it.

'_Who would do that?' _he felt sick looking at it, and noticing where he was staring Madam Pomfrey promptly healed several small cuts on that arm and then produced a white linen bandage to conceal the word.

"This is very bad," Madam Pomfrey murmured as she examined the wound on the girl's head. It was four inches long and deep enough to see the white bone of her skull. The nurse cast several more spells over the head wound, and Sirius watched as the flesh began to knit itself together. Then Madam Pomfrey sat the girl up slightly and poured the blood replenishing potion into her mouth, massaging her throat with her hand to encourage the unconscious girl to swallow it all. Madam Pomfrey had no doubt the girl was badly concussed, but her diagnostic spells did not indicate any serious or irreparable damage to her brain, and as the blood replenishing potion began to do its work a faint touch of color was returning to the girl's pallid face.

Within twenty minutes James and Lily returned with Professor Dumbledore. The Headmaster entered the infirmary looking somewhat tired but concerned, and he went immediately to Madam Pomfrey as James and Lily joined Sirius. After a brief explanation from Madam Pomfrey as to the girl's injuries and current state, Dumbledore turned his attention on the three students.

"I won't ask you what you were doing in the halls at such a late hour," he began in a stern but friendly voice, "your actions tonight have saved this girl's life."

Lily blushed at the friendly reprimand from their headmaster, but couldn't help asking, "do you have any idea who she is?"

Professor Dumbledore shook his head, "I've never met the young lady myself, but I'm sure we'll figure that out when she has rested and comes round."

"It looked like someone tried to kill her," Lily continued softly, glancing toward the bed.

"We'll find out what happened when she wakes up," Dumbledore repeated gently, "now I think it would be best for the three of you to return to Gryffindor Tower. Can I trust you will find your way directly back?"

Nodding, James wrapped his arm around Lily's shoulders, "yes sir," he answered, and he nudged Sirius toward the infirmary doors. Madam Pomfrey watched them go, waiting until the door was closed before she turned her attention back to Dumbledore.

"Someone tortured this girl," she stated flatly.

The Headmaster let out a long sigh, shaking his head as he looked at the fragile young woman who seemed so close to death. He had a foreboding feeling in his chest as he looked at her, and he wondered if this was the work of Tom Riddle, now calling himself Voldemort.

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Alright, that's all for chapter one. A bit on the short side, future chapters should be rather lengthy, but I wanted to get a good little introduction out there. Please let me know what you think so far, and I'd love to hear from anyone who has enjoyed my _Spirit Bound _as to their thoughts on a Sirius x Hermione fic. This is not a standard time travel fic, so hopefully you'll all enjoy what I have in store and how I choose to write the young Marauders and Sirius particularly. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more soon. ^.^


	2. Awakening

Hello again everyone, First, I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed the first chapter of this fic, I know it was a bit on the short side but I really appreciated hearing from you. ^.^

In answer to Lemon Cupcake, the fic I was reading that inspired me to write a Sirius x Hermione is called _This Time Around_. I believe it's the most reviewed Hermione x Remus fic on the site, so you should be able to find it easily if you search for those two and organize results by review count. The first dozen or so chapters aren't the most polished, but the story is rather good and the grammar and punctuation are much cleaner in the later chapters.

In other news, I've got some big personal updates, so check out the closing author's notes and / or my updated profile for more information on what I'm currently up to writing-wise.

I hope you enjoy chapter two of _Déjà Vu. _

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II. Awakening

It had been four days since he brought her to the infirmary.

Sirius glanced at the clock again as their history class drew on. Professor Binns' lesson had failed to hold his attention since about two minutes after he walked through the door, but he tried to keep up the appearance of listening to his teacher drone on and on about conflicts between the trolls of South America in the 1700s. Frankly, Sirius didn't really care what the South American trolls had been up to in centuries past, he didn't care what they were up to _now_.

What he did care about was getting out of class, and the sooner the better. Checking the clock again, he groaned inwardly that not even a full minute had passed. It had been that way the entire hour and forty minutes he had already spent in class, each minute dragging by at an excruciatingly slow pace, and he still had twenty minutes to go. _'Why am I even taking this class?' _he wondered, but then remembered Remus and Peter sitting beside him and sighed.

James had told Remus and Peter about the girl they found, but it was Sirius who kept running off to the infirmary every morning before breakfast to see if there was any change in her condition. Despite the playful jibes his friends subjected him to, Sirius was undeterred. He hadn't mentioned what he'd seen to James and Lily, but the image of her scarred arm had not left his head, and he was plagued by curiosity about the girl.

Finally, after what felt like another three hours, Professor Binns finished his lecture and dismissed the class, leaving them with a light reading assignment for the weekend but no written work. Sirius could not contain his relief, and he was the first one out the door, almost before Binns had even finished speaking.

"He's in an awful hurry," Peter commented to Remus as they watched their friend practically bolt from the classroom.

Remus shrugged, taking his time to pack his books up and put his bag over his shoulder, "I guess he's really concerned about that girl. James said she was in bad shape."

They left the classroom together, heading back to Gryffindor Tower to ditch their bags and meet up with James before dinner. James had seen fit to drop their history class in fifth year when Lily had stopped taking it in favor of pursuing advanced transfiguration and charms studies, which left him with a free afternoon on Fridays while everyone else was in class.

"Hey!" James greeted them when they stepped through the portrait hole, "where's Padfoot?"

"He ran off at the end of class," Peter answered, continuing with a laugh, "Do you reckon that girl you brought in is Sleeping Beauty?"

James didn't laugh, though, and the smile that had been on his face fell as he grew suddenly quite serious, "I'm not sure that should be funny. She hasn't woken up yet and she was really torn up when we found her."

"I'm sure he's just concerned," Remus put in as the three of them moved up the stairs to their dormitory, "if Madam Pomfrey can handle me, though, I'm sure that girl will be fine."

Remus was right, of course. Madam Pomfrey was a highly skilled mediwitch; she took her job quite seriously and cared diligently for her patients. Indeed, at that very moment the nurse was fending off the persistent Mr. Black as he attempted to gain access to the infirmary.

"Sirius Black," she admonished him, blocking his entrance through the door, "while I am happy to see that you are concerned about the girl, you must contain yourself."

"I've been containing myself all week," Sirius informed her, "I just want to find out who she is."

"Young man, that girl has been through something horrible. She's been awake less than an hour," Madam Pomfrey scolded him, "it's bad enough Professor Dumbledore is in there questioning her, I'll not have you disturbing the peace as well."

Sirius was indignant, "I'll just wait for Dumbledore then." He backed away from the doors to the infirmary and leaned against the wall opposite them, refusing to be put off.

The nurse sighed in exasperation and turned her back on him, returning to her ward and her patient. She knew the boy was curious and well intentioned, but she meant what she'd said. If it weren't for the fact that Dumbledore was Headmaster of the school she would have forbidden him from disturbing her patient so soon as well, but since he was, and considering the strange circumstances of the girl's arrival, Pomfrey hadn't had much choice about it.

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It had been quiet when Hermione awoke, the window near her bed open to allow a fresh breeze into the room; it was October, so despite the cold nights it was still reasonably warm during the day. The smell of the air, clean and fresh, had stirred her slowly to consciousness. Although she was unsure where she was, she felt warm and safe, secure. The pain she remembered was gone, only a faint ache remaining in its place, and she looked around the infirmary, feeling that it was familiar to her for some reason.

Madam Pomfrey had been waiting for the girl to awake, and she was swift to summon Dumbledore to inform him. The Headmaster didn't waste any time, he had arrived at the infirmary within fifteen minutes and exchanged a few quiet words with the nurse before approaching the girl. When Hermione had first laid eyes on him, she felt a great sense of relief flow through her, inexplicably pleased to see the aging wizard.

"Good afternoon," he greeted her quietly, his voice warm and friendly, as he summoned a chair over and took a seat beside her bed, "I am Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts."

"Hello sir," she greeted him, feeling herself smile, "I'm Hermione Granger." There was something very familiar about the old man, his bright blue eyes gleaming behind his half-moon glasses, and she felt as though she had forgotten something crucially important.

Dumbledore nodded sagely, "well it's a pleasure to meet you Miss Granger, though I must say I wish it were under better circumstances. Now, I know you've only just woken up and you're still recovering from a terrible ordeal, but I am very curious about you. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

She shook her head slowly, "not at all."

"Very good," he smiled again, asking, "do you know how you got here?"

Hermione glanced around the infirmary, "no, not how I got here. I remember being outside," she closed her eyes, vividly recalling the pain that had coursed through her body, "I was trying to reach the castle, I think this castle."

Dumbledore nodded, continuing, "do you know what Hogwarts is?"

Images flashed through her mind of halls and classrooms, she remembered a hat being placed on her head and the announcement, "Gryffindor!" ringing through a crowded hall.

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," she said softly, her voice sounding far away to her ears, "the safest place in the world."

The Headmaster nodded again, "what else do you remember?"

Closing her eyes Hermione tried to remember more about the school, but only random images came to mind, fragments of memories. She remembered snow in the courtyards, and she remembered sitting near a warm fire knitting socks and hats for some reason. Then memories of books, a vast library, the sight of which filled her with an indescribable joy; and the weight of her bag heavy on her shoulder as she ran through the halls.

"I think I went to school here," she said softly, opening her eyes to look at Dumbledore, "but I don't remember. Something terrible happened and I was trying to get back here, there was something I had to do…" she trailed off, falling silent as her eyes fell away from Dumbledore again. She looked down at her hands, noticing the bandage that stretched from her elbow to wrist on her left arm, and she felt a strong desire to unwrap it but she left it alone for the time being.

"You were wearing robes with a Gryffindor patch on them when you were found," Dumbledore said gently, he continued slowly even as he began to rearrange his thoughts mentally, "that is one of the houses here, where our students are sorted. I've been teaching at this school more than forty years, however, and I'm afraid I've never seen you here before."

Although she didn't know why, Hermione was not surprised to hear him say that, and she reached up to touch her head, feeling the delicate new flesh where the wound had been as she asked him, "How did I get here?"

"Three of our students found you," he answered, "you were unconscious in the entry hall; they brought you here because of your injuries. Our nurse, Madam Pomfrey, has been taking care of you for the last few days, waiting for you to wake up. You had a terrible wound on your head; no doubt that's part of why you're having difficulty remembering how you got here."

"Oh," she said softly, unsure what to say, "she must have saved my life."

"She's a very skilled woman," Dumbledore agreed, "our students are sometimes quite prone to injuring themselves, and she has always put them to rights again."

Hermione didn't know what else to say, and Dumbledore continued after several moments of silence, "I imagine you'll need a few more days of rest, but as soon as Madam Pomfrey decides you're fit we'll sort out the details of your stay here. If I may, though, one last question for now: do you remember how old you are?"

She started to shake her head, but then an image flashed through her mind, clear and sharp for the briefest of instants and she answered without thinking, "I'm seventeen."

The old wizard's eyes seemed to glitter behind his glasses and he nodded, "very good, you'd be a seventh year then, and a Gryffindor judging by the robes you arrived in. Very good," he repeated, and as he rose from his chair his robes swirled around him.

He looked at Hermione again; his blue eyes bright, "have a good evening, Miss Granger. I will come to see how you're doing tomorrow."

"Thank you sir," she swallowed, her throat feeling dry and tight with unexpected emotion, "thank you for coming to see me."

Dumbledore smiled kindly and left her bedside to have a word with Madam Pomfrey. As soon as the old wizard had gone, Hermione leaned back against her pillow, feeling her heart beat erratically in her chest and wondering why she had felt so strongly for a few moments. Professor Dumbledore seemed familiar to her, almost like a grandfather, but she shook the thought from her head, telling herself, '_he doesn't know me, which means I don't know him.'_

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Sirius was still leaning against the wall opposite the doors of the infirmary when Dumbledore emerged. Madam Pomfrey had seen him to the door, and she looked across the hall at Sirius.

"Haven't you got school work to do, Mr. Black?" she asked him crisply, "I told you the answer is no, and the answer is still no."

Dumbledore chuckled, patting the nurse on the shoulder, "it's alright, Poppy," he looked over to Sirius, "I'm afraid visiting hours are over, Mr. Black."

"But sir!" Sirius exclaimed, his indignation returning quickly.

Since it was clear that Dumbledore would handle the young man, Madam Pomfrey returned to the infirmary, closing the door firmly behind her. Professor Dumbledore stepped across the hall to Sirius, "I understand your curiosity, Mr. Black, I truly do," he raised his hand for Sirius not to interrupt as he continued, "the young woman's name is Hermione and she'll be a seventh year Gryffindor when Madam Pomfrey discharges her. I'd like you to share the good news with Mr. Potter and Miss Evans."

Sirius had been ready to protest, his mouth already half-way open, but he shut it at Dumbledore's words, looking at the Headmaster in surprise.

"And I suppose you don't want me to be bothering Pomfrey, right?"

The Headmaster nodded, and Sirius looked past him at the doors of the infirmary. His curiosity was going to kill him, he wanted nothing more than to insist on gaining entrance to the infirmary, but he could tell he'd lost another round to the school's nurse. Shrugging his shoulders casually and stepping away from the wall, he nodded begrudgingly.

"Alright, Professor," he said, "I'll tell Lily and James to expect a new addition to the Tower."

"Thank you, Mr. Black; that will be all," Dumbledore smiled, his eyes sparkling as he watched Sirius depart.

But Sirius was lost in another world already.

She was a Gryffindor alright, and he had a name for his mysterious girl now, '_Hermione.' _Thinking of her name brought the image of her, deathly pale and battered, back to his mind instantly and Sirius shook himself physically. Someone had tried to _kill_ her, to really make her suffer before she died. Someone who hated Muggleborns, if the wound on her arm had been any indication to go by…

As he headed toward Gryffindor Tower and put together the new pieces in his head, fresh questions arose in his mind, and his determination to get into the infirmary was renewed. He'd been rebuffed for another day, but Sirius was already planning a new approach, and he knew just who to enlist for assistance.

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Hey there everyone, and thanks for taking the time to read this follow-up. I just want to give everyone the head's up that I have started a new blog to showcase my written work. Chapter Three of _Déjà Vu _will be available soon on my blog; the link is in my profile.

I'm really getting into this story, so I look forward to hearing what you thought of this chapter. The feedback from the first chapter was better than I expected, so hopefully this one lives up to your expectations, and I think you'll love chapter three when Hermione and Sirius actually meet.

Stay tuned for more updates soon, thanks everyone. ^.^


	3. Black Angel

Hello again everyone, and thanks for coming back to read chapter three of _Déjà Vu. _I just wanted to thank everyone who had reviewed so far. As you all know, reviews are what makes a fanfiction author's world go round, so it's awesome to hear from you all. ^.^

I know updates are coming a little slow on this story right now, but I promise it won't be abandoned and I am actively working on it. This story is really taking shape in my head, too, so I hope you'll all enjoy it as I get it written and post here to share with you.

Now, on with the story.

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III. Black Angel

James did not like Sirius' plan.

But then, Sirius had gone along with almost all of his hair-brained plans over the years; especially when those plans had had to do with one Lily Evans, the light and love, the eternal flame, of his life. So when Sirius asked him for his invisibility cloak in order to sneak into the infirmary during the dead of the night, James didn't argue with him too much about it.

"Do you want company on this trip of yours?" he'd asked with a raised brow.

"Not on your life," Sirius answered, "this'll be a private soiree, but thanks for offering."

"What exactly do you intend to accomplish by this?" James asked his best friend as he rifled through his trunk to find the invisibility cloak. The funny thing about owning an invisibility cloak was that sometimes it could be rather hard to find, but James ultimately did.

"I'd just like to talk to her, ask a few questions," Sirius answered, snatching the cloak gleefully from James when he found it.

"By showing up in the middle of the night like some kind of creepy stalker?" James asked, raising his eyebrow at his best friend, "are you serious?"

Grinning cheekily, he nodded enthusiastically, "I was the last time I checked."

James sighed, shaking his head, "that's cheap."

"You walked right into it," Sirius responded, and with a laugh he tossed the invisibility cloak into his trunk to use later that night.

"I don't get it," James shook his head, "if she's going to be in Gryffindor, why can't you wait a few more days? Just talk to her when she moves into the tower, you'll have loads of time."

Sirius snorted, "not only would that fail to satiate my curiosity," he closed up and warded his trunk, then flopped across his bed, "it would be tantamount to admitting defeat to Pomfrey!"

James only laughed at that, "well she's never stopped you from checking on Moony when he's recovering, I'd be surprised if she succeeded now."

Indeed, Pomfrey had won the battle during the week but Sirius was determined to win the war.

It was late when he crept quietly out of the Gryffindor common room, hidden beneath James' invisibility cloak. He made his way toward the infirmary with quick precision, silent as a ghost in the night and equally as invisible. He'd taken the Marauders' Map with him, and paused outside the infirmary to verify that Madam Pomfrey was sleeping in her quarters.

The infirmary was warded to alert Madam Pomfrey if anyone should enter, but Sirius had long since discovered that slipping on James' invisibility cloak had the curious effect of hiding him from the wards. It seemed a slightly unusual quality for the cloak to have, but Sirius hadn't spent much time wondering about it. Instead, he simply exploited it as the easiest way to sneak into the infirmary to check on Remus whenever he was especially torn up after a full moon.

When the doors closed silently behind him that night, he felt a kind of exhilarating excitement that he hadn't felt for a long time. It had been years since he'd actually been nervous about doing something, but he felt his heart beating fast in his chest as he made his way silently toward the bed where the curtains were loosely drawn around. Stepping through slowly, Sirius came to a stop as soon as he stood on the other side.

Hermione was sitting up in her bed, the curtains on the window near her drawn back to reveal the moon and stars shining outside and she held her wand lightly in her hand, feeling it and rolling it idly between her fingers. She'd been unable to sleep that evening, though she feigned it to Madam Pomfrey, but they'd returned her wand to her, leaving it on the bedside table for her.

The way she held her it, Sirius was reminded of a child examining their first wand, and he wondered briefly if she remembered how to use her wand. Indeed, for him it seemed as though an eternity had passed since he'd stepped through the curtains, and the invisibility cloak was still firmly in place, but Hermione had sensed him and she immediately grew tense, defensive.

"Who's there?" she demanded in a soft whisper, suddenly gripping her wand in a very adept and defensive manner as she aimed it almost directly at him, "show yourself, whoever you are."

Well, so much for whether or not she remembered how to use her wand. If her grip on the smooth wooden shaft was anything to go by, Sirius reckoned the witch knew what to do with it. Without thinking twice, he tugged the invisibility cloak off, holding up the shimmering fabric as he stepped closer toward the bed, raising his other empty hand to show he was unarmed.

"I'm the one who found you and brought you here," he explained quickly, mindful to keep his voice low enough not to alert the school nurse, "didn't mean to scare you or anything. Madam Pomfrey's real strict about visitors."

Hermione regarded him closely, holding her wand tightly. She'd been ready to start casting hexes in a moment if he hadn't immediately shown himself, but he was clearly just one of the boys attending school and she made a conscious effort to relax slightly.

"I'm sorry," she lowered her wand slightly, "I suppose I should say thank you, but frankly, what are you doing out in the middle of the night? This is hardly a decent way to make an introduction."

Sirius shrugged, silently offering his thanks to Merlin that she chose not to alert Pomfrey immediately and have him thrown out. Looking at her seriously, though, he was reminded of why, indeed, he'd chosen to approach her in the middle of the night like some kind of lunatic.

"It's not the best way, you're right," he acknowledged, "but I wanted to talk to you alone, before everyone else is around. I'm Sirius, by the way, Sirius Black."

Although she didn't recognize him, the sound of his name seemed strangely familiar to her. When she responded, her voice sounded far away to her, "I'm Hermione – Hermione Granger. What did you want to talk about?"

Sirius already knew who she was, but he nodded as she introduced herself.

"I found you wearing Gryffindor robes, but I've never met you which means you can't be a student," he answered bluntly; "I just want to know who you are, where you're from."

'_Why someone's tried to kill you,' _he added mentally, but kept his mouth closed. _'One thing at a time,' _he reminded himself, pulling over a chair and perching on the edge of it to talk to her.

Something about his easy, casual demeanor and his wild black hair falling haphazardly across his forehead was familiar to her and for several moments she was cast back into hazy memories. _'Padfoot,' _the word whispered through her mind, accompanied for an instant by the image of Sirius' eyes, worn and weary, searching hers with a kind of forlorn desperation. She had the strongest sense that he needed something from her, that his life depended upon it.

"Hermione?" his voice penetrated the haze surrounding her thoughts, and she snapped her gaze back to Sirius as he sat only a few feet away. It was his gaze that met her, without a doubt, the dark blue shades of his eyes indelibly etched in her memory; but he had clearly stated that they'd never met so how could she possibly recognize him?

"I'm sorry," she said softly, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. Without realizing it, she'd lowered her wand, and it sat loosely in her hand, lying across her lap. "I don't know what happened, but I was a student here…" her voice trailed into silence, uncertain what to say.

Sirius regarded her closely, keen to find out more, "what _do _you remember?"

She dropped her gaze from his then, looking down at her wand. There was a plethora of fine scratches along the handle, with knicks and gouges marring the length of wood. Even without the injuries she'd had, her wand seemed testament enough to the troubles she'd endured. Just as she had the night he'd brought her up to the infirmary, her wand looked as though it had crossed a battlefield and then some.

'_What do I remember?' _she reflected silently to herself. She remembered pain cutting through her, white hot. It cut to the bone, inside her bones, crawling through every inch of her. The pain had been unbearable, and her mind had slipped away.

"I remember falling," she said softly, "I remember the cold, the numbness."

She had welcomed that numbness. If she was numb she felt nothing; it had taken away the pain, at least for a while. "I needed to reach the castle."

Sirius regarded her quietly and seriously, "yeah, you reached the castle," he nodded slowly, his gaze flickering over her face and slim torso. Her left arm was bandaged from elbow to wrist, and she'd been cleaned up and recovered to a great extent, but he hadn't forgotten how she'd looked. "You were in a bad way," he continued, and looking down for a moment he added honestly, "I was worried you might die when I brought you up here."

He wasn't sure why he told her, but it was the simple truth. Checking for her pulse that night, he'd been chilled by the coldness of her skin and the faintness of her heartbeat. For the first time in a long time, fear had gripped his heart when he thought the strange girl might die in his arms. It brought him incredible relief to see her awake and speaking, even if she didn't remember how she'd arrived there to begin with.

Touched by his sincere words, Hermione looked over at him, and his stormy eyes caught her own hazel gaze, holding it steadily. "Thank you for saving me," her voice emerged as little more than a whisper, and she cleared her throat, blushing self-consciously and reaching for a cup of water on her bedside table. There was something electric and engaging in the young man's gaze, something so eerily familiar, and she found it hard to maintain eye contact with him for long.

"I'm sorry for barging in on you like this," Sirius said, trying to dispel the somewhat somber air that had begun to settle, "Dumbledore told me you'll be in Gryffindor in a few days."

Hermione nodded, "yes, seventh year."

"Yeah, the Professor mentioned that," Sirius nodded, "a couple of my friends were with me the night we found you, Lily and James. They're Gryffindor, too, looking forward to meeting you."

"I look forward to meeting them," she smiled genuinely then, "I'll just have to convince Madam Pomfrey to let me loose from here as soon as possible."

Sirius grinned, "good luck with that. A fine nurse, but she's as stubborn as they come."

He'd wanted to ask her about the wound on her arm, but he realized it was probably better to hold his tongue about the matter for now. The girl still looked fragile to him, her gaze betraying a great deal of vulnerability at the moment. Whatever had been done to her was traumatizing enough that she'd blanked out large portions of her memory; his curiosity could wait for now.

They spoke quietly for several more minutes, but Sirius had realized that it was the wrong time to ask her too many questions. She was still in a sensitive state, still recovering, and he felt a strong protective surge within him, something primal and deeply rooted. Whoever she was, the young witch had been hurt, and he realized that he was determined to find out who had done it.

"I should be heading back," he said at last, never taking his eyes off her.

Nodding, she watched him as he stood, and the shimmer of the invisibility cloak caught her eye. She hadn't noticed it at first when he'd taken it off, her heart beating fast with adrenaline as it had and her senses all focused on the potential for attack at the time, but now it stood out.

"Where did you get that cloak?" she asked.

Sirius held up the invisibility cloak, grinning broadly, "it belongs to my best mate, James. An invisibility cloak, pretty wicked isn't it?"

"I've seen that cloak," she said softly. She remembered that cloak, she'd seen it a hundred times or more, "I've used that cloak at some point." But she couldn't remember when, or with whom. The memories were fragmented, dancing briefly before her mind's eye and then slipping away.

Sirius looked at her, starting to shake his head slightly, "I'm not sure how that'd be possible. This's been in James' family for generations."

"I'm sure it has," she shook her head, mentally reminding herself to keep a grip on it; "I'm sorry, I must be tired. That cloak just looks quite familiar."

Sirius nodded, taking mental note of her statement. As far as he knew the cloak had been in James' family for generations, but he knew with certainty that it had been with James since he started school. There was no way she'd used James' cloak before; they'd never even met her.

Wrapping the cloak around himself, Sirius grinned at Hermione as he left his head visible, apparently bobbing in the air completely disembodied. "My lady," he bowed theatrically, earning a broad smile and a light laugh from the witch. It pleased him to hear her laugh and he continued, "I wish you the best of luck with Pomfrey. My friends and I shall be looking forward to welcoming you warmly to Gryffindor Tower, just as soon as you've obtained your release."

"Thank you, Sirius," she said honestly, and he was pleased to see that her eyes had grown somewhat lighter, "I look forward to meeting them." And she realized that she truly did.

Without further ado, Sirius drew the cloak fully over himself and vanished from her sight. The curtains around her bed shifted slightly as he slipped past, and then she heard him quietly exit the infirmary. Everything was dark and silent after he left, and Hermione found herself grateful for the fact that he had come. Strange as it seemed, as she had been sitting awake so late, unable to sleep, she'd had a sense that something important was going to occur.

'_No,' _she shook her head, her logical mind immediately disputing the notion of premonitions. But another phrase rose up from her memory, _'constant vigilance!' _She couldn't remember the man who had drilled it into her memory, but she remembered the sound of his voice and his eye, a strange and magical orb that seemed to look straight through her.

The sudden image made a chill run down her spine, and Hermione shook herself physically, clutching her wand tightly. It was warm enough in the infirmary, but dark and lonely. Sirius' visit had proved a good distraction from her restless, sleepless night and she realized she was sorry for him to have gone. _'I need to get out of here,' _she decided resolutely.

Finally, though, she forced her mind to triumph over matter and willfully fell asleep, managing to pass the hours until daybreak in a reasonably peaceful sleep. At first she slept lightly, but finally as morning drew close her rest became deeper, more relaxed. The dreams that had plagued her all week as she slept in that coma-like state had gone for the night, and she woke again at around nine in the morning to the sound of Madam Pomfrey bustling about.

_[break]_

Ah man, I'm sorry to end there since it isn't the best place ever, but I wanted to get this out to you and the next chapter is going to be pretty long. I've got the first chunk written, and I know it's been a while between updates thus far, but chapter four will be out much sooner, I promise. There's going to be a lot of action in the next chapter, too, so look forward to more of our favorite marauders, and good old Severus will be debuting soon.

To everyone who has commented so far, I just wished to thank you again. The feedback from everyone is really fantastic, and it's a huge inspiration to carve out more time for writing. If you've been enjoying _Spirit Bound_, as well, then you're in luck because chapter eight is almost finished and will be posted soon. ^.^


	4. Lion's Den

Hey there again everyone, and welcome to chapter four! This story is really gaining momentum, so I hope you'll all enjoy this chapter. As promised, this one is quite a bit longer. ^.^

Thank you again to everyone who has commented so far. In answer to some of your queries about Hermione's memory, all I can say is that her amnesia isn't permanent. I don't want to give away too much of the story, but she'll certainly be getting her memories back as things progress.

If you have a moment at the end, please let me know what you think of the story so far. It's wonderful to hear from everyone who's enjoying the story.

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IV. Lion's Den

On Sunday, Madam Pomfrey relented and agreed to release Hermione from the infirmary. It was midafternoon, and the nurse called Dumbledore to inform him of her decision while Hermione was given the opportunity to bathe and get dressed in standard set of Gryffindor robes. The nurse had taken her measurements for the robes, and she found them to be comfortably adjusted to measure. By the time she emerged, the Headmaster was waiting patiently in a seat near her bed.

"Ah, Miss Granger," he smiled when she emerged, standing to greet her warmly with a handshake, "I've heard that you're ready to join the rest of the students."

"Yes," she nodded, tucking her wand into her sleeve. Her left arm was still bandaged, although she'd taken the bandage off to look at the wound beneath.

The flesh had healed to an extent, but the word carved into her arm remained. At first it had held no meaning to her. It sounded familiar, as though she'd heard it sometime long ago. Then a rush of fragmented memories came over her. _'You'll never be anything but a filthy mudblood,' _it had been sneered at her in the tone of an aristocratic snob, and she remembered with clarity the tension between the Muggleborns and certain Purebloods. It was an angry red wound, and the nurse had told her she wasn't sure if it would ever fully heal.

"_I'm very sorry, my dear," _she'd told her as she applied fresh layer of salve and rebandaged Hermione's arm, _"whoever did this to you used some black magic."_

The wound didn't hurt anymore, though, and she'd been given a salve to continue using on it. In the meantime it remained, an ugly reminder of something she couldn't quite remember.

Dumbledore had been speaking to her, and she realized he was inviting her to follow him to his office. Standing, she followed dutifully, pausing accordingly to bid Madam Pomfrey farewell as she left and to thank her for the medical care she'd received.

"Do you remember the way to the Headmaster's Office?" Dumbledore asked her, his tone light and conversational as they walked steadily down the hall. It was quiet and deserted, with most of the students enjoying their late afternoon lunch in the Great Hall, and Hermione was thrilled to glimpse the grounds through the windows as they walked.

"I think I do," she nodded, closing her eyes momentarily, able to envision exactly the same walls. A sudden smile spread across her face, and she laughed softly, "and the password, something to do with butterscotch, or lemon drops," she sighed, shaking her head, "I don't remember that, I suppose. It's this way, isn't it?"

Nodding and allowing her to lead the way to his office, Dumbledore regarded the young witch quietly, a deeply thoughtful look in his eye. In short enough order, they arrived at the gargoyle statues guarding his office and he spoke the password, "Fizzing Finkleberries."

"Since it appears you'll be staying with us for the foreseeable future, I believe it would be best to inform any of the other students who might inquire that you're a new student transferring from The Academy of Alexandria in southern Egypt," the older wizard explained as he admitted Hermione to his office.

The interior was warm, decorated in scarlet red and glittering gold, with purple-lined drapes at the windows. There were several shelves mounted to the walls, and many bookcases, filled with photos, books and various magical instruments. Dumbledore approached his desk and motioned for Hermione to take a seat in one of the comfortable chairs sitting before it.

"I've gone to the liberty of arranging your class schedule, and your books and various basic supplies are here," he indicated an enchanted, shrunken chest that sat on his desk and then handed her a neatly folded sheet of parchment, "this is your class schedule; once you've been here a little while, if you wish to adjust your classes simply speak to me about it, but I think you'll find them all rather agreeable." His eyes twinkled as he said the last part.

"Thank you, sir," Hermione said, and she hesitated before speaking further, biting her lip, "do you have any idea how I got here?"

He shook his head, looking at her apologetically, "I'm sorry, Miss Granger. Your appearance here is quite the anomaly to me right now. Rest assured, my dear, I'm investigating your situation. In the meantime, if you remember anything new, will you let me know?"

Nodding, she reached out and accepted the enchanted chest containing her new belongings, tucking it neatly into her pocket.

"I've told your new Head of House, Professor McGonagall, a bit about your situation, so she understands the unique circumstances of your arrival," Dumbledore continued, "if you're sure that you're ready, I'll introduce you now."

A thrill of anticipatory adrenaline coursed through her blood, and her heart beat fast as she thought of returning to Gryffindor Tower. She remembered the Tower, remembered its warm surroundings and the views of the grounds visible from the windows. Six years of her life she had spent living in that tower, learning and loving in that tower. Even if she couldn't remember the people she'd been with at the time, Hermione remembered being a Gryffindor.

"I'm ready," she affirmed to Dumbledore, and he nodded, excusing himself briefly to fetch Minerva McGonagall. While he was gone for several minutes, Hermione's thoughts crossed naturally to Sirius. No doubt he was waiting for her to arrive, and she wondered how he would behave toward her in the presence of others. How would she behave toward him?

Dumbledore returned shortly, though, with Professor McGonagall alongside him, and he introduced them in short order, explaining briefly, "Professor McGonagall has been Head of Gryffindor for more than ten years now. She will also be your Professor in Advanced Transfiguration, but I'm sure I don't have to tell you that you won't receive leniency for being a Gryffindor. She may even hold your work to a higher standard," he chuckled at the end.

"Nonsense," McGonagall hushed him in a friendly tone, shaking her head, "all of my students are treated and graded equally and fairly. Miss Granger seems to be a fine young woman so far, and if she's been sorted into Gryffindor, I'm sure she'll do exceedingly well."

Soon enough Hermione had left Dumbledore's office, and she was led politely through the halls by Professor McGonagall. As they walked, McGonagall reviewed the basic rules of Hogwarts and Hermione paid close attention. Each word from the professor's mouth echoed those spoken in her memory, and Hermione _knew _she'd heard the woman tell her those rules before. It didn't take long to reach McGonagall's office, though, and to Hermione's pleasant surprise, Professor McGonagall had summoned the Head Boy and Head Girl to her office to introduce Hermione.

"This is James Potter," the Professor introduced, and James reached out with a friendly smile to shake Hermione's hand, "he is a Gryffindor, and Head Boy of the student body. This is our Head Girl, Lily Evans, also in Gryffindor. They are two of the students who were present earlier this week when you arrived."

The way McGonagall phrased it almost sounded as though Hermione had turned up as an unexpected guest, and she smiled slightly at the thought of it. Lily was cordial and polite, shaking Hermione's hand warmly and lightly as they were introduced. The young woman was beautiful; Hermione realized it at once, with vibrant auburn hair that fell in soft waves to her waist, and expressive green eyes framed by her thick eyelashes.

Looking at James, Hermione felt as though she was looking at a ghost. Everything about him seemed instantly recognizable, and she had a hard time reminding herself not to stare. From the way his mussed black hair fell across his eyes, to the wire-rimmed glasses he wore, his presence screamed familiarity to her.

"It's wonderful to meet you," Lily greeted her enthusiastically, "we'll be sure to make you feel at home in Gryffindor and here at Hogwarts."

After a few minutes, Professor McGonagall dismissed Hermione into James and Lily's charge, and they exited her office in an orderly fashion. James and Lily kept a polite distance from Hermione, walking closely to each other as they led the way toward Gryffindor Tower.

"Are you feeling better so soon?" Lily asked when they'd left the professor's office, and Hermione nodded, casting her eyes to the other girl as they made their way through the empty halls. James was relatively quiet for once, allowing Lily to do the talking with the new witch while he observed her, wondering what had fascinated Sirius so much.

It had been practically impossible to deal with him the day before, and he knew Sirius had been awake most of the night, restless and unable to sleep. His best friend was as close to a brother as anyone had ever been, and James had rarely seen him so affected by something, nevermind some_one. _He watched Hermione right up until they arrived at the Gryffindor portrait, surprised by how pale and slight she appeared now that she was cleaned up, reasonably healed and clearly visible in the light of day.

"This is the portrait to our Common Room," Lily explained to Hermione as they arrived, "the password changes periodically, but you'll always be informed before it is. Right now the password is carpe diem."

A laugh, light and lyrical, came from Hermione at that, and she found herself grinning broadly, "really?" she continued to laugh lightly, "well no one in Slytherin will ever guess it. Who chose a Muggle phrase?"

Blushing lightly, Lily admitted, "that would be me, actually. We're only a few weeks into the school year so as Head Girl I got to set the first password of the year."

It surprised Lily that the witch would recognize the phrase, and she asked her, "are you Muggleborn, then, Hermione?"

A dark look passed over Hermione's face briefly, but the portrait had swung open and James motioned for them to pass through into the common room. By the time she stepped through the look had passed and she smiled slightly, nodding, "yes, I think so. At least one of my parents must be a Muggle, from what I remember."

It was the truth, what she told Lily, but Hermione knew in her gut that she was 100% Muggleborn. Why else would someone carve such a slur into her very flesh? They'd done it to drive home a point, but Hermione only felt a bitter resolution upon looking at the wound – whoever had done it would be sorry. Whatever her lineage, she knew she was a powerful witch.

"Oy!" there was a sudden shout, and Hermione's eyes leapt from Lily across the common room. Hardly any students were present, a handful of younger teenagers were sitting near the fire, but Sirius had been sitting with another young man and he leapt up when they came in, his eyes instantly alighting upon Hermione.

"Bugger you, James," he griped immediately, "you didn't tell me McGonagall wanted you for _this_!" He ran a hand through his hair haphazardly, never taking his eyes off Hermione despite addressing James as he approached them, his stride long and casual. Vivid blue met surprised hazel as he drew near to them, and Hermione found herself unable to look away from Sirius.

His height was much more apparent during the day, when they were standing and the light of the sun shone through the windows to light up the common room. Sirius was the tallest of the three boys, and though his frame was clearly lithe he was still broader across the shoulders than Remus or James. It felt as though her stomach flipped as he approached her, his gaze inscrutable.

"_I_ didn't know," James defended immediately, holding his hands up and shrugging.

"Well," Sirius shook his head, ignoring his best friend, and Lily looked on with interest and some amusement. She didn't know the details, but she knew how antsy Sirius had been for the girl to get released. Now, Sirius stepped closer to Hermione, holding out his hand as he greeted her, "welcome to Gryffindor, Hermione."

Accepting his hand tentatively, Hermione was surprised by the cool electric sensation that jolted from her fingertips and palm straight up her arm and down her spine. If Sirius noticed anything unusual about the contact of their skin, he gave no outward sign of it, and blushing lightly she looked down for a moment before meeting his eyes again, "thank you, Sirius."

"I'd have made myself more presentable if James'd warned me," Sirius offered by way of explanation for his somewhat unkempt appearance. He was dressed casually in a pair of muggle jeans and a loose white oxford-style shirt with the top two buttons loose, his jet black hair rumpled atop his head.

Behind him, there was a light laugh and the young man he'd been sitting with came over, commenting, "don't take his word for it, he's usually a beastly sight."

Sirius released Hermione's hand and turned to playfully smack his friend upside the head, "this is Remus," he introduced the sandy-haired young man to her, "Remus Lupin."

Relieved to be released from Sirius' magnetic gaze, Hermione looked to the third young man, and shook his hand accordingly. "Hermione Granger, it's a pleasure to meet you," she introduced herself politely, and Remus nodded, smiling at her warmly. When Hermione looked in his eyes, she was surprised and struck anew by their intense familiarity. Remus' eyes were golden-flecked amber, warm and friendly and immensely familiar to her, even moreso than Sirius' seemed to be.

"Your name precedes you," he told her, his voice light and humorous, "it's good to see that you're feeling better now, and joining us in Gryffindor to boot."

Remus was surprised by the girl's appearance. She hardly looked as though she'd been near death only a matter of days before, but then he knew from personal experience just how capable Madam Pomfrey was. It surprised him, looking at Hermione, to think that anyone would want to hurt her. She didn't look like someone you'd wish to harm, nevermind to torture or nearly kill like Sirius had been insisting it had appeared.

Indeed, she looked rather fragile, and Remus realized as he paid attention to his keen sense of smell that he could detect the slightly different scent of her flesh, newly mended as it was. And, noticing the edge of a bandage on her left arm, he realized he could smell flesh that was still wounded, still damaged and healing. Yes, someone had torn her up, and good.

While Hermione was introduced to Remus, Lily watched Sirius' behavior with keen interest. She was surprised to see him behaving himself so well, by his standards especially. It was a well-known fact that Sirius was something of a budding ladies' man, and he'd charmed quite a few girls into fooling around with him. Surprised by his very real and apparent concern for the new witch, Lily wondered to herself, _'why would he suddenly care so much?'_

"There's another close friend of ours you should meet," James was saying, and he glanced around before asking Sirius and Remus, "d'you know where Peter's at?"

Immediately, Sirius shook his head, but Remus nodded and answered, "he went back to the Great Hall a while ago for another snack. He'll be back; we can introduce her to him later."

The moment she'd walked through the door, Sirius' attention had been entirely on Hermione, the enigmatic young witch he was so keen to learn more about, and he was eager to invite her to sit in one of the comfortable chairs near the fire, but Lily intervened before the boys could become overwhelmed in their enthusiasm to welcome the newcomer.

"I think I should show Hermione to our dorm first," Lily interjected, stepping forward to interrupt Sirius as he made to clear the younger students out and make way for their group.

Hermione shot Lily a grateful look. As excited as she was to see Sirius, and to meet his friends, it was slightly overwhelming and she relished the chance to get away for a few minutes. Her new housemates were cordial and inviting, but she was certain they would be curious about her, they would ask questions and there wasn't much she could say to answer their questions honestly.

"That can wait," Sirius argued immediately, wishing to ignore Lily and forge ahead, but James caught him by the upper arm briefly, nodding his head to Hermione.

She stood near to Lily, inclining her head toward the auburn-haired witch.

"It'll only take a few minutes," Lily assured him, rolling her eyes in mild exasperation at his antics.

Hermione met his eyes briefly before leaving with Lily, saying to him, "this won't take long."

Watching her go, Sirius made a few unsatisfied noises to himself, much to Remus and James' amusement. The few other students in the room, though mildly interested, didn't seem to care enough to get up or eavesdrop closely on their upperclassman, and Sirius slouched back into an armchair near one of the windows with James and Remus following him.

"That was a warm welcome," James began in a light, teasing tone as he took a seat opposite him.

Sirius tried to maintain a strict expression, glaring over at his best friend for several seconds, but he couldn't keep it up and he finally grinned broadly, "I'd hardly call that warm, but this is fantastic. I didn't think Pomfrey'd let her out so soon."

He'd hardly slept at all when he'd returned to his dorm on Friday night, and Saturday had drug by at the pace of a snail. Saturday night had been even worse, and he'd been too restless to sleep decently. James and Remus had noticed, but didn't comment about it, and though James knew he'd successfully talked to the witch on Friday night, Sirius hadn't told him what about.

"You said she's got amnesia?" Remus asked for verification as he also settled comfortably in a chair, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

Sirius nodded absently, his thoughts already focused on Hermione again, "I think she remembers spellwork, but she doesn't know how she got here or where she's from; she doesn't know how she was injured or who did it." At the thought of whoever had injured her so badly, Sirius felt his jaw clench tightly for a moment and he had to consciously relax his muscles.

"Did Madam Pomfrey say anything about it?" Remus asked, "the amnesia, I mean."

His friend only shrugged, "I don't know." Grinning crookedly at him, Sirius reminded Remus, "it's not like I was talking to Pomfrey about this, after all. Witch wouldn't even let me in!"

James laughed and Remus chuckled, "oh yes, we know. We've heard about it all week."

Sirius continued to grumble for several minutes, but it was quiet in the common room and true to their word the girls returned within about fifteen minutes. Sirius had to resist the urge to stand up from his seat, waiting patiently as Lily and Hermione approached the boys where they sat.

"Things are all squared away upstairs," Lily announced happily as she took a seat with James, "and I've promised Hermione that the lot of you won't interrogate her unduly." Sirius offered Hermione a seat beside him, but she declined politely and he could see a light red blush rising up her neck as she took a seat in the armchair beside his.

Shrugging, Sirius continued to watch her intently, largely ignoring Lily. _'Yada yada,' _he thought idly, _'I'm not a prepubescent child, Lil.' _As fond as he was of James' girlfriend, Lily could really irritate him sometimes when she got into her mother-hen role, and he had a feeling she was on the verge of it with Hermione. Unlike James and Remus, though, Lily had no idea that Sirius had been to see the recuperating witch during the dead of the night.

"Did Dumbledore give you a class schedule?" Sirius asked, his tone light and conversational as he leaned comfortably across the arm of his chair, oriented toward Hermione.

The others were quiet, paying attention to her response, and Hermione reached into her robes as she nodded, "yes, I haven't had a chance to look over it yet," she withdrew the folded parchment, opening it briefly to glance over it before handing it to Sirius.

He took it from her, perusing it curiously and grinning slightly.

"Five topics?" he sounded slightly surprised, "I hope he told you some of these are optional. Charms on Monday, Double Potions on Tuesday with James and me, Advanced Transfiguration with all of us on Wednesday, Potions and DADA with us on Thursday and… Advanced Arithmancy on Friday?"

Sirius sounded almost confused by her final class, and he looked over at her with a raised eyebrow, "were you studying Arithmancy?"

Hermione shrugged slightly, "Dumbledore said I could change anything I saw fit to after a few weeks, but it sounds about right. I remember Arithmancy, though," she smiled slightly, then laughed as Sirius made a face of abject disappointment, "it's my favorite subject."

At that Sirius began to make choking and gagging motions for several seconds, and then he sighed, shaking his head in apparent wonderment. "Seriously? Arithmancy is your favorite subject?" when she nodded her head, he continued, "and you're going to spend four hours every Friday studying it?" she nodded again and Sirius groaned, "you must be brain damaged!"

"Sirius," Lily gasped, reaching out to poke him sharply with the tip of her wand, "behave yourself!"

"Assault," Sirius accused her flatly, but he returned Hermione's class schedule to her, commenting to her, "at least you've got a better sense of humor than Lily."

Their antics had indeed amused Hermione, and she smiled again as she accepted her schedule. In the dark on Friday night, he hadn't seen her nearly as well as he did there in the light, and he could see that she'd tamed her hair into a soft braid, tucked neatly behind her. Several curls had struggled loose, and they framed her face delicately, accentuating her natural beauty each time she smiled or looked at him shyly from beneath her dark eyelashes.

Many things in life had made his heart skip a beat before. Sneaking through the halls on certain nights, especially in the beginning years when they had been young. Sleeping in his room at Grimmauld Place over the summer, when each creak of the floor made him wonder if his mother had come to throttle the accursed flesh of her womb at last. In short, usually things that were sufficiently frightening had that special effect on him, and over the years he'd developed a rather thick skin and high tolerance when it came to being frightened.

A girl, however, had never made his heart skip a beat before, and Sirius had been cuddly and close to a fair few birds, it was true. Hermione Granger looking at him that way, with a soft smile curving her lips and her eyes, full of vulnerability and trust as they looked at him, half-hidden beneath her lashes, made his heart do just that. For the span of a few seconds, Sirius felt as though he couldn't breathe, unable to take his eyes off the girl sitting so near to him.

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Woohoo! Alright, I hope that you've enjoyed it so far. Again, I know it isn't the best place in the world to end, but as promised I've tried to make this chapter a bit longer than the others have been, so I hope that's something. ^.^ Also, I'm really inspired to work on this story, so the next update will come soon and it'll be another longer chapter. Severus is going to make his debut, and he's one of my favorite characters in the whole series, so I promise it'll be good.

If you've enjoyed it so far (and perhaps if you're impressed with the speedy update?) please take a moment to drop me a note. I love every comment I receive from all of you, my readers, and I'll do what I can to respond to any questions you may have.


	5. Charmed

Hello again everyone. This story is just steamrollering ahead it seems, so you're all in luck because it entails another speedy update for you. ^.^ Admittedly, I've been meaning to work more on _Spirit Bound, _but this story is just monopolizing my free time right now.

I hope you're all enjoying it so far. There are some rather intense suggestions being made in the comments about what should be revealed to have happened to Hermione, and all I can say is that what has happened to her is bad enough as it is. So as the story progresses, you'll get answers to all those questions and more, including how she's wound up in 1977 to begin with.

At this point I'm happy to present chapter five. ^.^

V. Charmed

It was dawn.

Hermione laid awake, still and quiet under the canopy of her bed as the sunlight began filtering through the curtains. Everything was illuminated in shades of red and gold, and she stayed quiet for a long time, knowing that her roommates were asleep. The girls she shared a room with were fellow 7th years named Katherine, Joanne and Emily. As Head Girl, Lily had a private room accessible at the top of the staircase.

The night had been filled with broken sleep, her dreams a myriad of images she didn't fully understand. Some of them had to be fragments of memories; she could _feel _a kind of difference in them, as though she could almost taste the reality of them. Smoke and ashes and pain were in her dreams, and the shadows of her friends, two young men, but she couldn't see their faces.

Without disturbing her roommates, Hermione rose at seven, dressing quietly and taking her wand and book-bag so that she'd be prepared for Charms class. Though she'd expected the common room to be empty so early in the morning, she was pleasantly surprised to find Sirius sprawled across the couch before the fireplace.

"Hey there," he sounded surprised but pleased as he sat up and greeted her, and Hermione saw his eyes alight as they came to rest on her, "didn't expect you to be up so early."

She approached him slowly, laughing lightly as she set her bag down on the table. Despite the oddity of her current situation, being in the presence of Sirius and his friends made everything seem nearly okay. They were clearly strangers to her, but they seemed quite familiar and she already found it easy to relax in their presence. Meeting his eyes as he continued to sit, she told him with a smile, "after four days of sleeping, I think I'll be good for a while."

Sirius nodded, continuing to scrutinize her closely. He'd been up most of the night thinking about her after they'd all gone to dinner and returned in the evening. It hadn't taken long for Peter to show up, and he'd been introduced to Hermione accordingly. The witch's reaction to meeting him had been less than warm, as a cold chill of dread ran down her spine, but if anyone had noticed something was amiss they didn't comment.

The young wizard, with his mouse-brown hair and somewhat pinched expression, had been surprisingly preoccupied, though, dismissing himself from the group halfway through dinner. But Sirius hadn't paid much attention to Peter. Since her arrival in the common room that afternoon, his attention had been monopolized by the young witch.

They hadn't spoken much the night before, as Lily and James introduced her to the other Gryffindors during dinner, explaining in passing that she'd transferred from a school in Egypt, but his gaze had scarcely left her during the night.

Now, despite feeling a flush of embarrassment wash over her, Hermione met Sirius' eyes steadily, saying, "I don't think I've thanked you properly for saving my life."

Sirius' eyes grew cool and serious then, and he stood from the couch to take a step closer to her.

"You don't have to thank me for that," he told her quietly, looking down at her. "It was the only decent thing to do; anyone else would have done the same."

A wry smile curled the corner of her mouth, and Hermione shook her head, sighing softly, "perhaps not anyone, but thank you," she looked up at him again, "I mean it sincerely."

'_I can think of __**someone **__who would have preferred that I die,' _she thought acidly, feeling the wound on her arm itch as if in response to her thoughts. Whoever had carved her up certainly hadn't been interested in her longevity, and Hermione clenched her fist reflexively thinking of it.

Sirius shrugged casually, running a hand through his hair loosely, "so were you going somewhere?" he asked, indicating her bag and full uniform. He glanced at his watch, "it's only ten after seven, so breakfast hasn't been served yet."

"I know," Hermione nodded, "actually, I was thinking of going for a walk, exploring the grounds a little." Amidst the broken sleep she'd gotten, she had dreamt of visiting a very specific cabin on Hogwarts' grounds, and she wanted to check to see if it was there.

In short enough order, Sirius invited himself along as her self-appointed chaperone and guide, and the two of them left the Gryffindor common room quietly. The corridors of the castle were completely deserted so early in the morning, and the chilly air of late October filled the halls. Most of the subjects in the paintings were still asleep, and the Fat Lady looked positively shocked to see Sirius up so early in the morning but she refrained from commenting as they left.

"I know you don't remember much," Sirius began when they'd reached the ground floor. They were walking toward the spot where he'd found her the week before, near the main doors of the castle, and Sirius felt his stomach turn slightly at the thought, "but tell me some about what you do remember. I mean family? Friends? Do you remember where you lived?"

Hermione shrugged slightly, shaking her head as they continued to walk, "I remember the castle," she closed her eyes briefly but her stride didn't falter and they continued past where he'd found her and out into the cold, brightly lit morning. Their breaths rose with each exhale, pale white puffs in the crisp air, and the grass was white with early morning frost.

"There was something very important that I had to do," she continued as they began walking along the path leading toward the lake, "someone I had to warn, or a message to deliver."

She almost wanted to say the message was to Dumbledore, as an image of his face came to mind, clear and crisp. But she shook her head, gripping her book-bag more tightly, "I really don't know, Sirius, I'm sorry."

Sirius shrugged, "that's alright, I don't mean to pry or anything. Just curious, y'know? So no memories of family, friends?"

Sighing, she switched her bag to her other shoulder as they continued walking along the path, "I remember that I _had _friends," and if she closed her eyes, for a split second she could almost picture one of them, his hair a shock of vibrant red, "but I don't remember who."

"Do you remember having a boyfriend?" he figured he'd just straight-up ask it, and he wasn't disappointed.

She laughed, shaking her head at once, "of all the strange little things I _do _remember, a boyfriend isn't among them, no." She blushed lightly as she finished answering, looking down.

"I'm surprised," he commented, and he realized he was, although he was also decidedly pleased.

Hermione only shrugged, shaking her head, "don't ask me, I don't remember," she laughed again, looking ahead of them toward the lake. Changing the topic, she commented, "I remember walking along this path during the summer, and how the lake reflects the sun, the sky and clouds during the day."

Sirius nodded, but his eyes were fixed on her rather than their surroundings, studying the profile of her face from her forehead to her nose and lips. Her hair had been forced into something of a haphazard ponytail, and several unruly curls sprung loosely around her face. It was remarkable how quickly the wound on her head had been healed by Pomfrey, as well, since Sirius could see no detectable sign of it, and he was relieved it hadn't permanently damaged her. Well, physically anyway…

"Were you in a battle or something?" he asked, remembering how her grip on her wand had changed so instantly the night he'd snuck in to see her. Defensive reflexes like that weren't just born overnight; they were carefully honed or developed as a real necessity.

The young witch didn't meet his eyes when she answered, though, shrugging as she looked out across the lake. A low mist had risen over the lake, and she sighed at length, "I think I must have been, but I don't remember."

They continued walking, talking quietly with their heads inclined toward one another, until a dark figure approached them on the path ahead. As they drew closer, it became evident that the dark-robed figure was a fellow student, his black hair falling across his forehead and nearly concealing his eyes. Sirius' pace slowed as they approached the student, and Hermione could see him prepare to draw his wand as his posture became tense and defensive.

"What're you doing out here, Snape?" Sirius challenged the young man as he approached, his stride also slowed and his demeanor alert, his eyes hard and sharp as they took in the sight of Sirius and the witch before him on the path.

"None of your business, Black," the other boy replied, his lip curling at the corner, "as a Prefect, I should be asking _you _what you're doing out here." His dark eyes flitted between Sirius and Hermione, raking over the slim witch's frame, amused by Sirius' overt protectiveness of the girl.

"Sod off," Sirius responded, and he took hold of Hermione's wrist, pulling her with him as they passed Snape.

Severus Snape was no stranger to Sirius Black, though, and he knew the type of girls Sirius usually went out with. Aside from the fact that he didn't recognize this girl at all (perhaps she was a younger Gryffindor he'd overlooked?), Sirius liked girls who were rather more on the provocative side. The one he was currently with certainly didn't fit the bill, and Snape passed the pair of them suspiciously, at a tense standoff with Sirius.

Each of the boys had been on the verge of drawing their wands, and Hermione watched their interaction with some interest, curious as to why Sirius was so aggressive toward the boy. He was wearing a tie in the Slytherin colors of green and silver, but she had a feeling that their animosity toward one another was rooted more deeply than pure house alliances.

"Who was that?" she asked after a few minutes as they made their way back toward the castle. Sirius had released her shortly after they'd passed Snape, but the sensation of his skin against hers as he'd gripped her wrist remained like a phantom for several minutes. At the same time, she'd had the faintest sense of recognition when they ran into Snape on the path and her mind was scrambling, grasping at the thread of familiarity, trying to trace it back to its source.

Sirius still had a dark scowl on his face, but his expression softened some as he looked at her, "that was Snape, Severus Snape. He's a Slytherin, real into the dark arts; he's got a thing against muggleborns. Dumbledore made him a stinking Prefect in 5th year and ever since."

"Oh," she nodded slowly, continuing at a slightly less hasty pace than Sirius, and he slowed down to match her shorter stride as she continued to speak, and she looked at him, "have you two known each other long?"

"Since first year," Sirius shrugged, opening the door for her when they had reached the castle, "he's a right prat, always been a real pain in the arse. He used to hang with a group of upperclassmen, all Slytherins who were into the dark arts, but most of them graduated."

The halls were still largely empty as the pair made their way back up to Gryffindor Tower, but they passed a few Ravenclaw students and a handful of Hufflepuffs on their way to breakfast. Most of the Gryffindor students were in the common room or the bathrooms, getting dressed and preparing for the day and Sirius found Remus and James waiting near the fire for Lily.

"Hey, where's Peter at?" he asked, looking around for their somewhat diminutive friend.

James shrugged, and Remus shook his head, answering, "I don't know. He was gone when we got up, same as you were," and in greeting to Hermione he added with a warm smile, "good morning; Sirius isn't bothering you too much, is he?"

Laughing, she shook her head and answered him, "oh no, of course not. I woke up early this morning and just wanted to go for a walk, so Sirius accompanied me since he was awake."

Lily emerged from the girls' bathroom a few minutes later, her hair still damp from showering, but brushed and neatly braided behind her. With her deep auburn hair, the resident Head Girl possessed a natural grace and beauty that Hermione found instantly admirable. It was no wonder, to see the ease with which Lily interacted with the other students, that she'd been chosen as Head Girl in her seventh year. With a bit of good-natured bickering, the group of friends set off for breakfast, their book-bags thoroughly weighted down for the morning of classes ahead of them.

Breakfast in the Great Hall had passed without hitch or any undue fanfare; although some of the other students in Gryffindor were curious about the new addition to their house. Hermione was grateful that Lily handled their younger housemate's questions, explaining briefly about her supposed transfer from the Academy of Alexandria. The students accepted it with little question, and Hermione was left free to enjoy a rather quiet meal while James, Sirius and Remus talked to each other.

Across the hall, Severus Snape had entered and taken up his established seat along the Slytherin table, his eye instantly drawn to the group of Gryffindors who were such an established thorn in his side. Little to his surprise, the girl he'd seen Sirius with earlier in the day was with their group, and he could see Lily sitting next to her, talking to her and answering questions from her younger housemates.

'_**Who**__ is the new girl?' _he wondered, eating his breakfast at a rather leisurely pace. Since Lucius Malfoy and the Black sisters, Narcissa and Bellatrix, had graduated Severus had been left largely alone again. Only now he was a Prefect and an upperclassman, so his status as a loner was respected, even somewhat feared, by his fellow housemates and they left him alone rather willingly. Indeed, several of Severus' younger housemates had already been on the receiving end of a hex or two from him, and few enough of them had any desire to repeat the experience.

Breakfast drew to an end soon enough, however, and Severus watched as Sirius and the new witch said goodbye to the other Gryffindors and left the hall together.

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"You probably remember, but I'll walk you to your classroom," Sirius had offered her as they finished breakfast, and despite the smirk from James and the grin on Remus' face, Hermione had seemed oblivious and graciously accepted his offer with a light laugh and warm smile.

Although their time together had been limited, Hermione found that she'd enjoyed every moment she spent with Sirius, and she walked slowly on her way to her first class. He was a very handsome young man, with his eyes so vibrant and entrancing and the mess of black hair atop his head that invited her to comb it. Even his tie wasn't quite straight, and if he wasn't in a class he kept the top button or two of his shirt undone, revealing the soft skin of his throat through a gap in the collar.

At the door to the Charms classroom, Sirius had said goodbye to her with a grin and a promise to see her at lunch and later in the afternoon since they only had a morning class. Professor Flitwick had been briefed on her arrival by Professor McGonagall, apparently told the same story that she was a transfer student from Egypt, and he welcomed her to the class with a brief introduction. Charms was a split class, with Hufflepuff and Gryffindor studying together, so about half the students already knew about her arrival and the other half quickly welcomed her into the class.

Class with Flitwick had a way of passing quickly, and before she'd realized it the three hour class was finished and they'd been released with the only assignment being to practice the advanced levitation charm they were working on during class. Hermione had already preformed the charm quite successfully, without needing more than a brief example of it in order to do so, and Professor Flitwick had been very impressed with her skill.

Sirius was waiting for her when her class let out, and she found herself blushing lightly as she heard some of the other Gryffindor and Hufflepuff girls whispering as they passed. He stood in the hall outside the classroom, his bag slung over one shoulder as he leaned back casually with one foot propped against the wall. The top two buttons on his shirt were undone and his tie was loose, but he grinned at Hermione in greeting and she quite forgot to scold him for his sloppy uniform.

"Hey there," he stepped away from the wall when she came out of the classroom, falling into step beside her, "got out of class a few minutes early, so I figured I'd come meet you," he told her by way of explanation, and Hermione grinned slightly as she nodded.

"I hope you aren't going to make a habit of that," she reprimanded him lightly, feeling certain that he'd slipped out of his class before the bell specifically in order to meet her.

The young wizard only shrugged, watching her closely as he responded, "would it bother you?"

Hermione didn't reply at first, and he saw her bite her lip in consideration as they walked before she looked sidelong at him with a shy smile and shook her head, "I don't suppose it would."

She regarded him as they walked, a strange mixture of boyish charm and a more adult maturity when she met his serious, inquisitive eyes. The coolness of the morning had given way very slightly to a sunny afternoon, but they hardly noticed as they made their way back to Gryffindor Tower to stow their bags and meet up with Sirius' friends before lunch.

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Thanks for reading everyone, chapter six is almost finished and will be up soon. Review? ^.^


	6. Viper's Pit

Hello again everyone, and thank you for all the great reviews for the last chapter. Things are picking up pace now in the story, but I'm a bit bogged down with work so it might take a little while for updates. In the meantime, I hope you're enjoying the story so far and I look forward to hearing from you when you've finished the latest chapter of _Déjà Vu. _:-)

VI. Viper's Pit

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"I'd like to introduce Miss Hermione Granger to the class," Professor Slughorn announced at the start of their first Potions class on Tuesday, "she is joining us as a transfer from the Academy of Alexandria in Egypt, I trust you will all make her feel welcome." He looked directly at his Slytherin students as he said the last.

Hermione had arrived a few minutes early with Sirius and James, who had been sent along by Lily despite his reluctance, to introduce herself to the potions professor and ensure that she had the necessary supplies and textbooks for the class. Dumbledore had been thorough, though, and her supplies were well in order.

Double potions for the 7th years was intended to prepare them for their NEWTs, and the class was mostly a mix of Gryffindor and Slytherin students, with only two students from Ravenclaw and none from Hufflepuff. Seated near the back of the room with James and Sirius, Hermione had taken a seat on the end of the row, with Sirius to her left and James further over beside him. From her vantage point at the back of the classroom, she recognized one of her dorm-mates, Katherine, sitting at the front of the classroom with the girl from Ravenclaw.

On the other side of the room, five students from Slytherin had taken seats apart from the rest of their classmates, and Hermione recognized Severus Snape sitting at the back of the room, as far away from James and Sirius as possible. He had a dark, inscrutable look on his face, and though he'd looked directly at her when he entered the room, she was grateful to have James and Sirius between them, shielding her from his intense gaze.

Having stood up when Slughorn introduced her, she sank back down into her seat after a polite nod of her head to the Ravenclaw students. None of the Slytherin students really seemed to care, and as Slughorn began with their lesson she felt her heartbeat gradually returning to normal.

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked her quietly once their professor had been speaking for a few minutes, he glanced over at her in concern; "you look a little pale there."

Hermione swallowed, nodding slowly as she looked over to him. He'd reclined casually in his seat, leaning back against the wall since it was close behind them, and paid little attention to Slughorn as he continued to outline the details of their assignment for that day.

"Oh yes, I'm fine; just a little nervous I suppose," she responded softly, pulling her potions textbook over in preparation for their assignment. She flashed him a shy smile, feeling her nervousness abate further as he grinned broadly at her.

"Potions not your best subject?" he teased, eyes alight with humor. "Ah don't worry," he reached out gently and took her hand for a moment, leaning toward her slightly to whisper, "you've got me and James to help you if you need it; he's succeeded in getting me this far, after all."

Squeezing her fingers lightly, he withdrew again almost as quickly as he'd touched her, leaving Hermione blushing in her seat, her hand burning with warmth. The nervousness in her belly had gone entirely, a fluttery excitement taking its place as her heart began beating rapidly again, this time for an entirely different reason.

On his part, Sirius only grinned to himself in satisfaction, seeing her blush from the corner of his eye as he ostensibly returned his attention to their professor. Ordinarily, James had to continually remind him that their future careers hinged upon their success in potions just to get him through the door to the classroom. Six hours of potions in a single day was, suffice to say, not the highlight of Sirius' week, but if he was going to get to spend those hours with Hermione, he began to think that taking double potions might have been the best decision he'd made so far.

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From his position at the opposite side of the room, Severus had no direct view of the new witch, but he didn't need it. He'd watched their little clique again during dinner the night before and breakfast that morning, growing more and more suspicious each time he saw them interact with the new girl. Her presence in his potions class was simultaneously an unwarranted intrusion from his perspective, as well as a boon since he had now gleaned specific information about her.

'_Hermione Granger, is it?'_ he made a mental note of the information their professor had announced, filing it away for later use and further research.

"If you'll open your textbooks to page 364, please," their professor was instructing them, "you will begin brewing the Draught of Revelations today. It will take several weeks to complete this potion, so you will be working in pairs with your designated partner on this one. The outcome of this potion will be a large part of your grade for this term, so do bear that in mind."

This time, his final statement was directed with a pointed stare toward James and Sirius, neither of whom had the decency to look even slightly embarrassed.

On his part, Severus didn't even bother to open his textbook at first; he hardly had any need to. The Drought of Revelations used a rather standard base potion that he'd brewed more than a dozen times, so realistically he figured he wouldn't need to consult his book until at least a week or two into the brewing of the potion. Around him, his other classmates had begun to discuss the assignment with their partners, and Severus had just stood to retrieve the basic ingredients he would need when Professor Slughorn called him over.

"Miss Granger," Slughorn called out to the young witch as well, and Severus felt his stomach seize as he stared sharply at his professor. _'Oh no,' _the thought crossed his mind even as he opened his mouth to protest what he knew was coming, but Sirius beat him to the punch as Hermione stood reluctantly from her seat and began to approach their professor.

"Aw no, Professor," Sirius was practically on his feet, nearly ready to spring over his work station to seize hold of the witch and keep her back, "Come on, don't pair her with Snape, sir. She can partner with James and I'll work on my own."

Hermione shot Sirius a look over her shoulder that froze him in his place as the other students in the room looked on with sudden interest. It was a well-known fact that Severus Snape hated, and was hated equally in return by, James Potter and Sirius Black. And those in his own house knew Severus well enough to know that he preferred to work alone. He'd considered it a stroke of good fortune when their class had an uneven number of students, leaving him in blessed peace to brew by himself, a task he was more than capable of.

"Mister Black," Slughorn's tone was cool and sharp, "unless you wish to be summarily dismissed from this class, I suggest that you keep your comments to yourself." After pausing long enough to ensure that Sirius would remain silent, Slughorn continued with relish, "Now then, Miss Granger, you are fortunate that the only student in this class who doesn't have a partner is also the best student in this class."

Severus could feel the weight of Sirius' heated glare boring a hole through the back of his head, but his mind recalculated quickly and a dark smirk tugged imperceptibly at the corner of his mouth. Slughorn continued as Hermione came to a halt a few feet from his desk, "Severus here usually works alone, but I'm sure he won't mind working with you. Since we're brewing rather advanced potions, you'll pair with Severus when the class works in partners; I'm sure you'll benefit from his expertise."

Although he knew Slughorn was complimenting him to serve his own ends, Severus did feel a measure of pride to hear his instructor boast of his skills in such a manner. _'The old codger doesn't know the half of it,' _he contained his smirk, turning to glance over at the slim witch.

"Yes sir," it was the first time he'd heard her speak, and he was surprised to hear her voice emerge, soft but confident, her gaze unwavering as she looked their professor in the eye.

Slughorn smiled widely, pleased with her ready acceptance and with himself for having devised the idea. He had no special fondness for Sirius Black, a rebellious and roguish youth who had caused his esteemed family no small amount of public embarrassment and shame.

"Very good, collect your things then and join Mister Snape at his station," he dismissed her and turned to Severus, "Do you have any issues with the partnership, young man?"

Severus' eyes had followed Hermione as she returned to her original seat to collect her book bag, but they snapped back to Slughorn and he maintained his carefully schooled expression as he responded, "No sir, is that all?"

Most of the students were studiously pretending not to be paying attention while waiting to see if there would be any further drama between the rivals. At the back of the classroom, Sirius was stewing, muttering vehemently under his breath as Hermione gathered her things. Dismissed by Slughorn, Severus returned to his seat, removing his own book bag from the second half of his work station to make room for the witch.

After a hushed comment to Sirius, Hermione tucked her loose hair behind her ear and shouldered her bag, picking up her assorted materials and making her way to the other side of the room. Severus ignored the dark looks he was receiving from the pair of Gryffindor boys, his eyes carefully trained on the witch as she approached, scrutinizing her closely.

With a fresh shock of adrenaline coursing through her blood, and her stomach tied in renewed knots, Hermione approached the pale-faced, dark-haired boy and set her things down on the work station. Taking up her seat beside him, she met his dark eyes steadily, her hazel gaze unwavering as his black eyes bored into her, deep and hauntingly familiar.

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly in a sneer, an expression that she recognized instantly, as though she'd seen it a thousand times before. "I'll get the materials we need," he said shortly and stood, discreetly adjusting his wand for easier access as he went around the silent witch and made his way toward the storage closet to retrieve their potion materials.

Their classmates were still reviewing the instructions in the book and figuring out what they needed to get from the closet, but it didn't take more than a minute for Sirius to appear behind Severus, letting the door swing partially shut. He was taller than Severus by several inches, but the Slytherin boy had already turned around and drawn his wand before the larger boy could act.

"Oh sod off, Snape," Sirius flicked his lower wrist, drawing his rival's attention to the wand in his hand that was pointed directly at Severus' genitals, "I'm not gonna hex your sniveling arse in here, too many volatile ingredients."

'_So the cur does have a brain somewhere in that thick skull of his,'_ Severus didn't lower his wand, though, his lip curling into a nasty sneer.

"You ever hex me again and it'll be the last thing you do," Severus warned him, the tone of his voice low and deadly serious as he flicked his own wand at Sirius again.

"Stay away from Hermione," Sirius stepped toward him menacingly, his blue eyes hard and dark as he glared at the Slytherin boy, "I mean it, Snape."

"I mean it, Snape," Severus repeated mockingly, his grip on his wand tightening, "Or what, Black? What're you gonna do, huh? You gonna stalk me like the mangy, honorless mutt you are and gang up to get the upper hand? 'Cause we both know you'll never beat me in a fair fight."

Sirius only laughed, low and dark, rumbling from the depth of his chest as his eyes flicked over Severus again, taking him in from head to toe. "You'd better pray that day never comes, Snivellus," his voice was a low, feral growl as he continued, "If you do anything to her, you'll curse your mother for the day you were born."

There was a sharp inhalation from behind them, and Sirius immediately twisted around to look toward the door, his eyes alighting on Hermione. "Sirius," her voice was still soft but her tone was sharp and reprimanding, "He hasn't done anything wrong, and I can take care of myself."

Severus' wand had already been returned to his sleeve within an instant of realizing that she was there, and he smirked in satisfaction as Sirius was forced to lower his wand and withdraw. "That's right, Black," he commented snidely, "Now be a good boy and stay on your leash."

Sirius fumed at the comment, but Hermione stepped between the two of them before the conflict could escalate further, reaching out to lay one hand on Sirius' arm as she looked to him with beseeching eyes. "Please, don't fight," her words were directed straight to Sirius as she met his eyes, her light brown gaze begging him to step away from the fight that was brewing.

Grinding his teeth as he clenched his jaw, Sirius nodded, looking over her head to glare at Severus for several more seconds before stepping back and turning away. He left the supply closet with his heartbeat pounding and adrenaline coursing through his veins, returning to his station with James while Hermione remained alone with Severus.

He'd watched the interaction between them with keen interest, surprised that his longtime nemesis had actually listened to the witch. Lily had tried to break up fights between them in the past to no avail, even James had a tendency to ignore her orders until they finally started dating. Yet with a few choice words, this girl had gotten Sirius to back down from what would otherwise have likely become a bloody brawl.

Now Hermione's attention was leveled on Severus, as she turned to face him. The shaft of her own wand instinctively fell into her palm, still concealed from sight but ready at a moment's notice if she needed it. "Are you trying to prove that you're immature?" she demanded sharply.

Affronted, Severus' eyes narrowed as he glared at her, "You're new here, witch, but watch your tongue, or you're liable to lose it."

Undeterred, she continued to glare at him in return, meeting his black eyes dead on and unflinchingly for several long minutes. Their standoff came to an end when they heard their classmates starting to approach the storage closet, and they hastily collected the materials they needed in order to start brewing the potion.

Back at their work station, Severus addressed her rather snidely, "Do you think it's within the bounds of your capabilities to grind 6 grams of midnight sage into a fine powder, Miss Granger, or shall I demonstrate the proper technique for you?"

There was a hard undertone to his voice, and for a split second she recognized the timber and pitch so precisely that she responded defensively, snapping, "Of course I can do it, Professor; I'm not some incompetent first year."

The words had passed her lips before she realized what she was saying, and instantly she snapped her mouth shut, a hot flush of embarrassment rising up her neck. _'Merlin, where did that come from?' _she glanced around the room quickly, relieved that none of their classmates seemed to have heard her comment.

"Excuse me?" his voice was low, directed solely to her as Severus turned on her. Was she mocking him? Well, he would soon find out. "What did you just say?"

"Nothing," she avoided his eyes, reaching over to grab the jar of midnight sage and her mortar and pestle for grinding it up, "I'll prepare the newt livers, too."

Senses on high alert, Severus' gaze moved over her sharply, one eyebrow arched with interest. There was a hot blush of embarrassment across her cheeks, so evidently she hadn't been mocking him. _'Why in the world would she call me Professor?'_

After watching her for several moments longer, he shook his head slightly, perplexed by her behavior, and returned his attention to preparing his cauldron for the potion. _'Perhaps she was knocked on the head as a child,' _he mused, glancing discreetly at her from the corner of his eye. Still, he couldn't shake the suspicion that had taken root from the moment he saw her on the path with Sirius Black. No one ever showed up one day and simply began attending classes…

"So tell me, Miss Granger," he addressed her quietly, ensuring that only she could hear him, "What prompted your transfer from the Academy so late in your schooling career?"

If he hadn't been watching her reaction closely, he might have missed it, but Severus saw the way she froze for an instant, every muscle in her body suddenly seizing up momentarily. Panic. He could recognize it anywhere. She concealed it well, though, continuing with her task, but he saw her swallow heavily and for an instant she looked toward James and Sirius.

"Personal reasons," she answered softly, her eyes cast back down to focus on her task.

She was lying; he could hear it in the underlying, reluctant tone of her voice. Well she wasn't going to get out of answering his question that easily.

"Like what?" he persisted, reaching across her deliberately to retrieve the harpy heart they would be using. The silver blade of his prepping knife glinted as he drew it from the supple leather sheath he stored it in, and Hermione flinched at the sight of it, her left arm jerking reflexively away. _'Oh?' _he raised an eyebrow at her, "Relax, I'm quite adept with my tools."

"I'm sure you are," her lips compressed into a thin line, her eyes hardening as she finished pulverizing the dried newt liver. "Here," she set two small stone bowls beside the cauldron with the prepared ingredients.

"Don't distract from the question," he reminded her as he paused to roll the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows before beginning to cut the harpy heart into strips, "Why didn't you transfer at the start of the year?"

"That's really none of your business," her tone was sharper this time, more shrewd and he paused briefly to look at her.

"Well then," he regarded her with a quiet, dark amusement.

"Tell me or don't, but I'll find out," his assurance sent a cold chill shooting through her blood, and Hermione felt as though her heart fell into the pit of her stomach. Her eyes leapt to his face, but he wore an impenetrable mask of cool indifferences, his focus turned entirely on the harpy heart that currently bloodied the tabletop and his hands.

_[break]_

Hey there everyone; this was a bit of a shorter chapter, and I know it's been absolutely forever since I updated, but I wanted to let you all know that I'm still working on this story. I've also been working on _Spirit Bound_ and should have an update for that soon, too. I'm really enjoying writing this story so far, and I have some great ideas for the coming chapters, so I hope you'll all bear with me as I work on getting updates posted. Other than that, I'd love to hear from you. ^.^


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